1. Field
The following description relates to a memory management technique for allocating and/or deallocating memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory allocation refers to reserving a predetermined area of a memory to allow a certain process or device to use that predetermined memory area. Memory deallocation refers to releasing the occupied state of a memory area allocated to a certain process or device and returning that memory area to its original or previous state.
In the case of a system that processes extremely large quantities of files, such as a digital camera or digital camcorder which records and plays video data, there is a waiting time experienced by a user due to a conversion period that generally follows a transition between modes, such as the transition from recording mode to play mode.
This user waiting time is caused by memory deallocation that occurs during mode conversion. More specifically, in a situation in which memory deallocation occurs, a user waiting time is lengthened due to unnecessarily high CPU usage.
In general, memory deallocation is performed many times in order to deallocate an allocated memory area repeatedly in units of a memory size corresponding to a fixed value.